US company weighs aid for Polish sulfur mines
| Gdansk, Poland
Occidental Petroleum experts met with members of the Polish Planning Commission in Warsaw for exploratory talks about aid for the Poles in credit and know-how to expand their sulfur industry, Monitor special correspondent Eric Bourne reports. After coal and copper, sulfur is a major hard-currency export, and Poland has vast reserves it is unable to develop without extensive assistance for new mines.
The experts were traveling with Occidental's president, Armand Hammer, who had a lengthy talk -- on the likelihood of Soviet intervention in Poland (see related story on Page 14) and business -- with party leader Stanislaw Kania. Mr. Hammer, who has business interests in several Eastbloc countries, said Occidental's fertilizer projects with Poland were worth $30 million in 1980 and could be doubled in 1981. "We would also take sulfur from Poland in exchange for our goods," he said.